Olympic gold medallist Daniel Magnusson: "It's all about helping each other"

Ten years ago in Karlstad, Sweden, 12-year-old Daniel Magnusson sat watching the European Curling Championships.

The annual continental showdown had come to his hometown and, having picked up the sport not long before, the boy came to see the best in action.

Representing the hosts on the ice was skip Niklas Edin. On the bench sat young alternate Oskar Eriksson.

“That was the first time I was actually trying to imagine being out there on the big stage myself,” Magnusson told Olympics.com at the ANOC awards in October.

A decade on, the 22-year-old is an Olympic gold medallist after being alternate for Team Sweden at Beijing 2022 where Edin and Eriksson led the side to glory.

"Being there with them, winning this Olympic gold medal, it’s amazing, of course," Magnusson beamed. “I’ve always been following them as a young junior; they inspired me. And now to actually be on that same team with those guys, that’s amazing."

Olympic gold at last for Team Edin

Edin arrived in Beijing as a five-time world champion - he won his sixth last April in Las Vegas - and desperate to lose his tag of the best curler never to win Olympic gold.

At Vancouver 2010, Edin skipped Sweden to fourth place before they won bronze four years later in Sochi.

At PyeongChang 2018, they came desperately close to gold but had to settle for silver thanks to USA skip's John Shuster's nerveless double takeout in the eighth end.

Beijing 2022 was a moment of final release, as Edin, Eriksson, Rasmus Wranaa and Christoffer Sundgren defeated Great Britain to take the men's curling title.

“The most crazy thing about winning this gold medal was probably realising what it actually meant to all of us,” Magnusson said on the moment of victory.

“We’ve all been fighting so hard, both individually and as a team for so many years, so just realising that we finally did it was sort of a shock experience for all of us.

“I've been following this team since I was ten years old, and they've always been my big heroes," he continued. “It feels like I've been on this journey for a lot, a lot longer than just four years.

“Just finally realising that we actually won was the most crazy and fun thing to experience, for sure.”

Curling: the ultimate team sport

Being an alternate in curling means, in effect, being a substitute. It involves all the training and preparation, scouting rivals, pushing your team-mates but knowing that you might not ever take to the ice.

In Beijing, Magnusson ultimately did not compete. Instead, he watched Sweden’s golden campaign from the sidelines.

While he might not have been a part of the action, it’s clear when he talks about the unique nature of his sport the Swede understands that, in curling, the good of the team must always come first:

“Curling is quite a special sport because it’s a team sport; it’s a super team sport.

“We’re only four to five people competing on the tour and so we really have to get to know each other very well in order to bring the best out of ourselves and perform when it really matters.

“There’s a lot of individuality within the sport but, in the end, it’s all about helping each other. So, we really do support each other on all different types of levels, both on ice and off ice.

“The communication and the relationship you create within the team is unseen in any other sport I’d say,” Magnusson continued. “Your team becomes like your family; you’re so few and you’ve really got to help each other to make the best out of it.

“It's a team sport and it's a small team sport, but the team always tries to try to help you. And that's what's so special."

For those in Team Edin, strengthening the team bond is very important and often includes playing other sports off the ice.

Magnusson and his skip sometimes play badminton together while pool, golf and chess – all games of decision-making and accuracy – are favourites among the group.

As well getting to scratch their competitive itches, the young Swede explained that such activities also allow the team to keep challenging one another which encourages them to keep improving. And Magnusson is hungry to learn from his idols whenever he can:

“We always help each other out. They’ve always been super big heroes of mine and they're all super talented in each individual way. Oskar [Eriksson] he's a super strategist. He knows everything by just looking at how things will fall into place.

"Each and every one of them has different talents that always helps the team to perform.

“As a young junior trying to keep up with the older guys, I'm always trying to learn from what they're saying and what they're doing because they all have so much experience, so much knowledge within training, within strategies and basically everything that that makes us perform. So, I'm just trying to keep up and learn.”

2022 European Curling Championships call-up

It is not insignificant that the 2012 European Championships was where Magnusson decided to pursue a curling career.

And at the same event 10 years later in Ostersund, Sweden, the alternate becomes a fully-fledged member of the line-up.

With Edin recovering from knee surgery, Eriksson takes over at skip with Wranaa moving to third, Magnusson coming in at second and Sundgren remaining as lead.

When Olympics.com spoke to the curler, he did not yet know he would be taking on such a responsibility. He even joked at the time there would still be some waiting to do before he would ever lead the men’s senior team: “When Niklas turns 65, I’ll probably step in and do it,” he said with a grin.

But having already been with the team every step of the way for the last pour years, the young gun will be feeling more than ready.